Chapter 33 – On Deck
“…”
Perhaps because they moved their bodies violently, Hero and the others ate dinner earlier than usual. While eating, the warrior felt the eyes looking at him.
‘What… ?’
Wanting something, I glanced back in the direction where I could feel the gaze, and this Grindella, who had sent her gaze, lowered her head startled.
And as if nothing had happened, he was absorbed in the food in front of him.
The gaze kept bothering her, so the meal didn’t go well, so while she was eating, she glanced back and asked Martha, tilting her head.
“Warrior? Any problem…”
“Huh? No, nothing.”
After such an uncomfortable meal time, the warrior came out of the restaurant, but his eyes did not stop.
‘What did I do wrong?’
As Grindella’s gaze followed until it reached the front of his room, the impatient hero asked Grindella, who was hiding behind the corner.
“I… Anything for me…”
“Aww!!”
Grindella, hiding behind a corner, seemed to think that she hadn’t been noticed despite her ardent stares, and she jumped up and down in surprise.
Grindella moved his body to escape even now, but soon made up his mind and stood in front of the hero.
“Yoah ball!”
“Ah, yes…”
The atmosphere of Grindella, who shouted the name of the hero with a confident expression, was quite serious, unlike her behavior a moment ago.
However, unlike that serious atmosphere, he couldn’t open his mouth easily, as if he hadn’t made up his mind yet.
In the end, when nothing came out of Grindella’s mouth after a long time, the hero spoke to Grindella first.
“If you have any business with me, please do not hesitate to tell me. I don’t think it’s particularly rude.”
“… I’m sorry for saying that.”
“No. I’m fine with anything, so if there’s anything you’d like to ask of me, please tell me. Of course, as far as I can listen.”
“… It’s not a request. Just… I have something I want to ask…”
“What do you want to ask?”
He was a warrior who wanted to say something for a moment, but he nodded his head inwardly after thinking about Dalian during the day.
‘Did it bother me that I lost part of it?’
Although they are now adventurers, it would be dishonorable for them, who are knights themselves, to receive victory in such a way.
Of course, the reason the hero did that was to save face for the Azul Revival Adventure Team, but even so, it might have bothered him.
“If… Is it because of morning sparring?”
“Yes? Oh no… The start is the sparring, but… What I want to ask is something else…”
“I see… So what is it?”
“… I wonder why Prince Yoa wants to become stronger even though he has that much power…”
“Why do you want to be strong?”
“Yes! I wonder what he intends to do with that power.”
“By force…”
The reason why the hero wants to become stronger is, of course, to subdue the demon lord.
However, listening to Grindella’s question now, I realized that the dream I had thought of as a goal was not actually a goal.
“The reason I seek power is… To save those whom I want to protect and help.”
“To save… ?”
“Yes…”
Even now, when the hero closes his eyes, the memory of that day comes to mind as if it had happened yesterday.
Burning houses and people who fell on the way to escape and just quietly wait for death.
The powerless young warrior had no choice but to just watch so many people.
He could not hold the hands of those who reached out for help with the young hands of a warrior.
He didn’t want to just watch.
I wanted to hold the outstretched hand.
And the means to grab that hand was to defeat the demon king.
“In front of my eyes, my family… The neighbor… Friend… In addition, many others whom they have never seen have died miserable deaths from being exposed to unreasonable violence.”
“Absurd…”
There was only one thing that meant irrational violence in this world right now.
Recalling the Demon King’s army that once attacked the castle, Grindella made a confused expression.
“I want strength in order to reduce even a little the number of people who are victimized like that.”
“Prince Yoa… You have lost someone important to the Demon King. Excuse me… I’m asking this just in case. Prince Yoah is from Azul Kingdom…”
“You’re right. Me and my fellow Horde who were captured by the harpy yesterday are also former citizens of the Azul Kingdom.”
Even Grindel, who spoke out about the number of small countries that had disappeared by the demon king’s army, did not have any confirmation.
I just said it out of curiosity, but when the hero nodded, it felt like a huge thorn had been pierced into Grindella’s chest.
How many humiliations have they received as the people of the ruined country?
What a great ordeal it must have been for him to grow up with such an upright mind while receiving such humiliation.
It’s not just warriors.
Grindella couldn’t possibly raise her head to all the people of Azul Kingdom, who were still crawling on the floor somewhere.
“It is the duty of the royal family to die together when the country perishes… I survived uglierly, depriving myself of precious power just because I had to protect the blood of the royal family.”
Grindella said to the hero as he lowered his head to the floor.
“Originally, I would like to apologize with my life, but I am the one who is entrusted with the great task of reviving the kingdom. You can’t die right here. But… Even if you can’t give your life… It’s okay to hit it once…”
“…”
The hero, who had closed his eyes at Grindella’s imminent pain and listened to Grindella’s words in silence, raised one hand.
“Eww…”
Grindella closed her eyes in pain, not knowing whether it was in her stomach or her face. After waiting for a long time and not feeling anything, Grindella quietly opened her eyes, wanting something.
And the moment I opened my eyes.
“Oh!!”
A bean was fed to Grindella’s forehead.
“Oops… !”
The hero was thinking of controlling his strength, but Grindella’s forehead was stained red.
Grindella, stroking his forehead while holding back his tears, said to the hero.
“Wait, would you be okay with just this?”
“You say ‘only’, but… Can you see the tears now?”
“Oops! Wow, this is so unexpected… Because I wasn’t prepared…”
“Well, you see… But I hit it once, but in the first place I wasn’t very angry.”
“Yes?”
When Grindella tilted her head with a puzzled expression as if she couldn’t understand it, the hero said calmly.
“You are working as hard as you can to recreate the hometown I loved. It’s not fair to be angry.”
“Oops!”
Hearing those words made her feel a painful but somehow pleasant pain in Grindella’s chest.
It was the first compliment I heard outside of her family.
The first praise she heard came from the mouths of people who were not strange even if they resented her.
She couldn’t help it, even if she shed tears inadvertently.
“Here…”
The hero took her handkerchief from her bosom and handed it to her, and Grindella took it with her trembling hand.
Then, wiping the tears with the handkerchief, he spoke in a trembling voice.
“That, you say so… I, what should I be thankful for…”
“You don’t have to be grateful. I just said what I thought.”
“Yeah, but…”
When Grindella said that with her weeping eyes, the hero pondered for a moment before she spoke to Grindella.
“Then… If it’s okay, can I ask you a favor?”
“Yes! Please tell me anything!”
To Grindella, who spoke boldly, the hero spoke cautiously with a shy smile.
*****
After dinner, Marta separated from Hero and rested alone in her room.
Today wasn’t even a training day for divine power, and Yuria couldn’t have done anything dirty again after suffering the same thing yesterday, so she had time to rest for the first time in a while.
“Eww… !”
Just as I was about to stretch out and lay down on the bed, I heard familiar footsteps from far away.
Unlike Mirian, who was clad in heavy armor, his footsteps were light and cheerful. Was a warrior
Martha said she was not an elf like Lina, and she hadn’t been trained to scout, but perhaps it was because she was so focused on the hero that she was able to distinguish the sound of her hero’s footsteps at some point.
She was about to lie down on the bed, but Martha got up quickly and stood in front of the mirror to check that her hair was not tousled and that her clothes were not wrinkled.
‘Good… Are you okay!’
After confirming that there was nothing wrong with her, Martha calmly waited for the warrior to knock on the door, as if she did not know that the hero was present today.
Tboob.
Tboob.
Tboob.
Martha’s heart begins to beat every time her footsteps get closer, even though she has already met her face several times.
Eventually the footsteps stopped and the hero arrived at the door, but no knock was heard.
What happened?
Seeing the hero stopped at the door, Marta thought it was strange, but she had no way of knowing in this situation.
The hero hasn’t knocked on the door for a while, and when Martha tries to open the door, wondering what’s going on.
-Smart
After waiting for a long time, the sound of a warrior knocking on the door was finally heard.
As soon as Martha heard the sound, she immediately opened the door without delay.
From the hero’s point of view, it was doubtful that he had waited in front of the door, but that didn’t come into Martha’s head.
Contrary to her wide open door, Marta’s face was unmatched.
In contrast to Martha’s gentle face, unlike her warrior’s usual, her face was slightly reddened, and she seemed to be restless somewhere.
“Martha…”
“Yes, warrior. I don’t know what happened, but please tell me without reservations.”
“… Huh. Then could you give me a minute?”
“Time? If you want to do divine power training, I’m always…”
“No, not like that. I’d like to see you on deck for a moment…”
“Deck… You mean from above?”
I wonder if someone got hurt while sparring on the deck in the morning.
If so, I could understand the hero’s restless attitude, but he didn’t seem particularly urgent.
“Yes. Let’s go together.”
As Martha expected, the hero’s steps were slow, as if no one was injured.
She climbed her stairs after the hero and came out to the deck, but only the cool breeze greeted Martha on her deck, and the other adventurers who were standing on her guard were nowhere to be seen.
The hero looked back at Marta without a moment to think of it as strange and said to Martha.
“Hey Martha. This…”
What the hero gave to Martha was a small box used to pack her small accessories.
Upon receiving the box, Martha unconsciously opened the box without understanding the situation.
“This… ?”
Inside the box was a pair of earrings modeled after white daisies.
Martha couldn’t understand what she was seeing.
Marta, who had been hardened for a while while looking at the earring, raised her head again and looked at the hero.
“It’s not expensive, but I really want Martha to accept it…”
Hearing that, Martha embraced the earring given by the hero as if it were her own child. And he said in a trembling voice.
“Eh, something like this… Well, it’s fine for me, but other people might misunderstand it, so ha, don’t give it to me carelessly… ! Oh, did you know?”
“…”
“Oh, did you know?!”
Martha said that, but she didn’t answer, so she looked up and saw the hero’s playful expression for the first time.
“… Oh, is it okay if I misunderstand?”
“Yes yes?!”
“No. I just wanted to give it as a gift, so let’s stop going down now.”
It wouldn’t be strange if he confessed right now, but the hero didn’t.
As I said at the cafeteria the day I defeated the Demon King’s army executive for the first time, I shouldn’t be connected to anyone while I’m a hero.
It’s okay to misunderstand.
Those words were the greatest deviation a hero could make as a warrior.
“Warrior…”
Martha, noticing that feeling, jumped at the back of the hero who was about to go down the stairs again.
“Martha?!”
Suddenly Martha clung to his back like a cicada on a tree, and the hero struggled right in front of the stairs.
Martha whispered into the warrior’s ear the words she had spoken that day at the restaurant.
“I… I’ll wait. Even if it takes years or decades, I will definitely wait.”
“…”
The words she once rejected saying that it was not necessary.
If there were other people, he would have said the same thing, but another word came out of the warrior’s mouth, who gained courage in this situation that the two of them were alone.
“… Thank you.”
